Translation; Dogs

“Translation is always an act of betrayal.”

“That’s just what translation is, I think. That’s all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they’re trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”

These are both quotes from the book Babel by R. F. Kuang. These quotes are at the heart of the book and follow the story arc in a beautifully nuanced and poetic way. This book is easily my favorite book I’ve ever read. Highly recommend.

If you are new here, I am following an idea of taking the things I am learning in my self-guided continued education program and translating them to the dog world. I did not grow up with (much of) a high school education and feel there are so many puzzle pieces missing in my understanding of the world. Now that I’m more settled in my career and business, I have the luxury of exploring this and writing about it.

My career has been exclusively in the dog world since I was 16 years old. After 12 years in the industry, I would consider myself an expert when it comes to dog handling, showing, training, grooming, and care in general.

I am much less of an expert in academia.

My “self-guided continued education program” is a combination of revisiting traditional school subjects, creating a curriculum, researching as a hobby, writing and creating as a daily practice, and expanding my knowledge of other subjects. In doing so, I am seeing connection after connection between the world of academics and the world of dogs. I hope that by writing these essays and exploring these connections in depth, I can help non-dog people learn more about dogs and simultaneously help others like me in understanding broader subjects.

For example - I am reading a book about logic (The Art of Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng) and have found the connection between category theory in mathematics and trigger stacking in dog training and behavior. This will be in another article very soon. If I tried to summarize it in a sentence to include here it would be this: Category theory brings relationships between things to the forefront - what are the factors of a given number - whereas trigger stacking in dog training is how factors in the environment affect the dog’s stress levels and subsequently have the ability to alter the dog’s behavior in some way.

This is a very niche example but speaks to my goal in this series. I want to take what I am learning in mathematics, science, history, ethics, literature, linguistics, story-telling, art, and music and translate it to applicable lessons as it relates to the dog world; be it dog training, husbandry, veterinary, sports, etc.

All of the above is preamble to a proper introduction of the subject of this essay: language and translation inspired by reading Babel by R. F. Kuang.

I feel this is a perfect essay to start this series as the entire goal is rooted in translation, communication, and education.

Dogs and humans, obviously, speak different languages. We do know this although we often forget.

There are many misconceptions around translating “human speak” to “dog speak” and vice versa. Language is misinterpreted, misread, and so many things are lost in these amateur translations.

Dogs don’t speak English (or Spanish, or German, or French, or any other man-made language) but we so often make the mistake of assuming that our dogs understand English words. We think it has to be the case that they must be speaking the same language when you have to spell out words like W-A-L-K and F-O-O-D.

Dogs understand rituals, patterns, movement, sounds, visual cues, and context as a whole. Dogs are masters of pattern recognition and ritual; the most famous example being Pavlov’s dog who learned that food always followed the sound of a bell. Another famous example, though not canine, are Skinner’s rats who learned to push a button to earn a food reward.

These studies formed the core of our understanding of behavior; a foundation for a common language between species.

The reason your dog runs to the door when you pick up the car keys is because the dog has learned the predictable pattern and ritual that precedes going for a walk or a trip to the park. This is communication.

When we use marker words or clickers in training we are capturing a moment in time, similar to clicking the shutter on a camera. After a few repetitions the dog has collected enough photos to piece together a panoramic view and a more complete image of the desired behavior. This is communication.

We can use pattern recognition and ritual for shaping behaviors, yet there’s still so much more to translation than that.

As with any language training, you need to start with the basics; an understanding of the larger culture, context, intonation, alphabet, and rules of grammar that formed the language.

When we are looking at culture and context around our dogs, we need to consider things like breed, prior history, physical health, mental capabilities, age, and temperament of the dog before we can begin working with them. Was the dog a rescue? Was it an owner surrender or did it come from a puppy mill? Was there abuse or neglect involved? How long was the dog in the shelter? What breed is it? Was it from a breeder? Did the breeder do health tests? Temperament tests? Early socialization? Understanding the context around an individual dog is crucial to communication so that things are not lost in translation.

Once we know some context we can then start to talk to each other.

Dogs speak the language of music, not words. Intonation becomes crucial. You can see this by swapping out a consonant in your dog’s name for another and seeing the dog’s reaction to their made-up name. My dog Macey would respond just as well to Stacey however swapping out a vowel would completely change the musicality of the name. Macey to Micey or Macu sounds much different. Tone, pitch, and volume become incredibly useful tools in translation.

If dogs speak the language of music fluently, they also speak the language of movement - dance - fluently. My introduction to dog training was in dog agility, a sport where the dog must navigate an obstacle course as directed by the handler. Words became all but useless on an agility course because the movement speaks so much louder. It becomes a dance, each partner taking in visual cues from the other and moving in accordance the rhythm. Spacial pressure, movement, and expressions preside in agility but also find their way into everyday communication with our dogs.

Finally, how we present language matters - sentence structure, grammar, direction, and punctuation. Asking dogs questions typically raises arousal levels. “Are you a good boy?” and “do you wanna go for a walk?” are examples of this, in addition to those phrases often being used inside of patterns and rituals. This also goes back to musicality as the pitch is raised (or lowered depending on the language) to infer a question.

Structure and direction I would consider as the structure of day to day activity. Routines and schedules are ways of communicating with your dog. There should be some level of predictability and consistency for your dog to feel safe while also including some variety and novelty. Reading sentences that are all the same is tiring yet an essay with a thesis, body, and conclusion helps to solidify understanding. Structure and novelty therefore work in harmony.

To return to the opening quotes, we have to consider what is lost in translation when communicating with our dogs. Is it truly a betrayal?

I do believe there is betrayal when we attempt to teach our dog our own language without considering theirs. Ultimately communication is listening to the other, setting aside our biases, and considering what they are saying. Our dogs have their language and we have ours. There can only be understanding when we can recognize the merit of both. To truly listen is to truly translate and communicate.

I do hope this has been a useful and thought-inspiring essay. It’s one of my shorter ones but hopefully not without impact. These kind of writings are my heart and soul as it blends my favorite things - learning and dogs. I may not have perfect grammar or technical writing skills, but I would rather publish something imperfect than nothing at all. Here I am living up to the opening quote by showing myself to the world and hoping someone else understands.

Questions, comments? Please leave below or email at emmatinklenberg@gmail.com

Emma Tinklenberg NCMG is a nationally certified master dog groomer, dog trainer, author, dog sport enthusiast, and all around student of dogs. They own and operate Canada Corners Pets in West Michigan and share their home with a menagerie of dogs, cats, goats, chickens, ducks, reptiles, and fish.